Author: Geoff Ebbs

Mr Cameron Costello
Chair
Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation

8 June, 2014

Dear Cameron

I write to you and the board of QYAC on behalf of the FOSI committee and all our members to support the commencement, last Friday, of QYAC’s High Court challenge to the Newman government’s amendments to the 2011 North Stradbroke legislation.

FOSI confirms its strong opposition to the November 2013 amendments because they permit the further expansion of sand mining at the Enterprise mine by abolishing the 2011 restricted mine path and also allowing mining to extend into ML 1120. In addition, FOSI strongly opposes the Newman amendments because they are designed to permit, in 2019, sand mining leases at Enterprise mine to be extended again – until 2035.

As an environment group committed to the protection of the island’s landscape and its diverse flora and fauna, we applaud QYAC for its High Court challenge. We appreciate that, in addition to environmental concerns, QYAC is motivated by the need to protect the cultural heritage of all native title owners and their rights and interests over the land currently under mining lease.

We also are aware that, consistent with the Federal court orders of 4 July, 2011, the native title rights and interests are exercisable on the expiry of the mining leases. Any expansion or extension of sand mining beyond the restricted area or time limits legislated in April 2011 obviously substantially interferes with these rights and interests by degrading the land and/or postponing, for years, the rights and interests.

We realise that standing up to a State government is not an easy task. No doubt there will be critics. However, the 2011 extension was the result of special, legislated renewal of expired leases which bypassed usual processes and extinguished the pre-existing legal rights of organisations and individuals opposed to any renewal. Legal advice indicated that there were good prospects of overturning expired lease renewals under existing legislation. Rest assured that FOSI fully supports QYAC in its endeavor to have the High

Court declare the Newman government amendments to be invalid. FOSI agrees that there should be no further extension of the Enterprise mine beyond 31 December, 2019.

Yours sincerely,
Sue Ellen Carew
President

The theatre space at Queensland Multicultural Centre, BEMAC, took off last month as the Kone Express left the station with two thirds of the audience on the dance floor, glowing and grinning in sheer delight at the exuberance of the performance.

Bassidi Kone is a young man from Mali, who travels the world but manages to maintain an Australian outfit that play as the Kone Express whenever he is in town. Right now they are touring the country to take this infectious musical hybrid into the regions in a combination of workshops and performances.

Kone Express is a fusion of Western and African music with a beautiful tension between the structured rhythm of a drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and horns combo and the jembe, Balaphon and variety of drums from the three Africans on stage.

The fusion goes all the way through the performance weaving variable African rhythms through and over the square framework of the Western music. That gave the audience plenty of opportunity to dance wildly and wonderfully. Well that’s the way I like to think I looked.

Don’t rely on the fact that I had a great time, check out Kone Express on YouTube and form your own opinion. Even better, watch out for the dates in June and July and get yourself along for a night on the tiles. Just make sure you have your dancing shoes on and are ready to bust your best moves.

You will get plenty of opportunity.

Bassidi Kone is leading rhythm workshops at Kurilpa Hall in West End on Saturday June 29th

<caption>Bassidi Kone is a colourful character who inspires a diverse band

Westender’s recent story about Paul Judd recovering his lost super had a twist in the tail. His insurance policy disappeared while when his superannuation was rolled and it took a bit of juggling to get himself properly covered again.

Branch Manager of Yellow Brick Road West End, Suzy Butterworth explained that insurance is one of the most sensitive areas around superannuation. “We’ll often leave an old super account open, and just drip feed it, to maintain a valuable insurance policy,” she said.

The challenge is that people’s circumstances change. As you age you become a greater insurance risk and people with chronic illness often find it difficult to get the policy they need, at a premium they can afford. Superannuation funds can pay for life insurance and income protection insurance among other things. Insurance companies have to honour their policies even when your circumstances change, as long as you maintain the policy.

By rolling your superannuation over, you will generally cancel the insurance policy and be subject to new conditions based on the current insurance market and your age and state of health. This could be a significant disadvantage.

Ms Butterworth said people suddenly wake up to the challenges of superannuation and can react too quickly.

At 41, Paul is beginning to calculate the amount he can save over the years that he will enjoy working.

“I want to retire before seventy,” he said.

His mistake, though, was to respond to an email that offered to consolidate his superannuation money, automatically.

“I was uninsured, I did not know where my super was and I did not have any idea how my money was invested,” said Mr Judd.

Ms Butterworth helped Paul find his super, sort out the insurance and invest more aggressively than the average managed fund, that matched his appetite for risk, to yield a higher return and give him a better lifestyle in his retirement.

“You have to choose between spending less now, spending less later, or working longer,” she said. As we age, the options begin to narrow, so the key is to start early.

“If Paul had come to me ten years ago, he would be in a completely different position,” said Ms Butterworth.

She told Westender that some of the people in the worst position with their super took their money out of managed funds after the Global Financial Crisis, and have missed out on the subsequent bounce. That, though, is a story for another day.

St Mary’s in Exile was created when priests Peter Kennedy and Terry Fitzpatrick walked out of the St Mary’s Catholic Church in West End and down the road to the Trades and Labour Council Building with almost the entire St Marys Community.

They set up a community built around the mission statement – St. Mary’s in Exile is a community of diverse people who come together in the light of the Christian mystery to act justly and give priority to the marginalised in our society.

I asked Terry Fitzpatrick how he sees faith intersecting with social responsibility.

“It’s at our very core. Even the literal reading of the Christian narrative is a story about the protection of the poor against the excesses of authority. Christ was murdered because he worked with prostitutes, tax collectors and fishermen and stood with them challenging authorities that would oppress them.”

I asked him about the difference between the Catholic Church of the Inquisition, the crusades, Papal Infallibility and oppression of women, all of which appear to be at odds with this view.

“Emperor Constantine was looking for a religion that would bind the people to his cause, that would reduce the cost of subjugating his people and inspiring his soldiers and Christianity ticked many of the boxes. His advisers cobbled together a grab bag of religion’s greatest hits. The story of the Virgin Birth, Three wise men following a bright star to a divine child, the resurrection, and many other Biblical stories all came from other religions.”

We discussed the fact that the political structure of the church – the pontiff, the election process, came from classical Rome. His view that the official church does not represent or live the core of the Christian message explains why St Mary’s is in exile.

Terry describes how the ancient religious scholars were writing at three levels, the literal, the metaphoric and the spiritual. “We take the literal story, as a literary narrative, a container used to express the metaphoric and spiritual message.”

“We maintain the form of the church because that is where we have come from and what works for majority of the community. The fundamental message though, is the same as that coming from many other faith based and secular groups. The message is ‘Awake, sleeper. Let Christ’s all-embracing universal consciousness prevail.” All is one.

He believes that the message goes well beyond social responsibility and the need to protect the less well off from the ravages of the rich and powerful.

“At our core is a stillness, a deep connectedness. This is true at a spiritual and a scientific level.”

He quotes Thomas Berry, patron saint of the Deep Ecologists. “My small self is my large self.”

Terry sees our task in this century to move beyond a dualistic, mechanistic view of the world where we alienate resources for consumption to a holistic, integrated view that revitalises and replenishes the whole.

Nature Reserve and the impact of the Galilee Basin coal mines, through to guerilla gardening. members of the congregation regularly talk about seed sharing and living simply to reduce their footprint.

Social responsibility goes much further than simply caring for fellow humans.

“The task of the individual is to recognise that it is all divine”

Given that police are going to crack down hard on any protesters who do not register as Issue Motivated Groups and sit meekly on the side-lines with police approved signs, a number of groups have emerged to support the notion of an alternative summit. The idea was floated at Jaegera Hall in January and developed further in the lead up to planning for the March in March. There is now a People’s Summit and a People’s March proposed.

The global group Alternative G20 is backing the summit billed as being held on 14th and 15th November 2014. The opportunity to explore fresh ideas and to think outside the political box, it’s also a time for some fun with live music and comedy events. The group was just establishing it’s Brisbane website as Westender went to press.

The Brisbane Community Action Network (BCAN) is holding a barbecue and ideas jam to discuss approaches at 3:00pm on Sunday June 1st in Orleigh Park West End. Most of you will read this issue after that event but Westender will report the outcomes online.

BCAN aims to develop and advancing community generated answers to world economic, social and environmental problems. Visioning another World : The G20 Peoples Summit will be a three-day festival of symposiums, idea-sharing, art, creative activities, education and action. It will take place in Brisbane over 12-14 November 2014, before the G20 Leaders Summit.

Click here for Westender’s extensive online coverage of this issue.

Despite the national treasurer’s discomfort with wind turbine’s many businesses are experiencing first-hand the bottom line advantages of thinking green.

As the Bendigo Bank writes on its Green Generation pages, “Business owners are recognizing that as the cost of energy, water and other limited resources rise, the value of best practice efficiency increases, thus speeding our transition to a sustainable society.”

Talking about the nation’s small to medium enterprises (SME’s) that make up 57% of the economy, the bank observes, “The way these 2 million+ businesses consume energy, water and other resources, is critical to our society’s ability to [transition to a sustainable economy]. The good news is, than in doing this, the owners and managers of these businesses will save money and increase their profits.]

The thought seems to be catching on. The SW Chamber of Commerce, now part of the CCIQ and missing its long term guide and mentor Roger Taufel, had an expert in LED lighting speaking last month and this month features Andrew Chamberlin, the CEO for Smart Energy at City Smart.

Speaking at the Brisbane Golf Club, Andrew will show how to give your business a competitive advantage by making real environmental and financial savings.

He will explain the ecoBiz program, through which businesses are able to reduce waste, water and power use, saving money, becoming more sustainable, and, importantly, boosting their bottom line. You will:

• learn some practical ways to save money and reduce costs in your business
• discover how to implement free and immediate changes to reduce costs in your business
• gain a better understanding of your bills and how to control electricity, water and waste
• understand how you can make the most of the CCIQ EcoBiz program and become an ecoBusiness

More than a dozen case studies of business saving money by thinking smarter are available at the EcoBiz website